Hendrix gives every admit a holistic Hendrix College Scholarship ($20,000 and up) plus $2,000 performance/service awards that require on-campus housing; the El Dorado Murphy Foundation award is a full-ride that replaces prior Hendrix merit.
Verified Jul 20262 months ago
The short answer
Is Hendrix worth a closer look?
Hendrix may be worth checking, but its awards do not follow a simple grades-and-scores chart. Start with the published scholarships below.
Merit tiers4See who qualifies
First-year students with school awards36%First-year students, CDS 2022-2023
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team
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Published scholarships
These amounts and requirements come from the school’s own published pages. Open an award to see who qualifies and how to keep it.
$20,000 and up
Hendrix College Scholarship (Hendrix Achievement-Based Scholarship)
Apply separatelyCan continue
GPA
Considered (holistic)
SAT
Considered unless test optional
ACT
Considered unless test optional
See who qualifies and how to keep it+
Who qualifies
Based on GPA, standardized test scores (unless test optional), leadership and extracurricular activities, recommendations; all accepted students receive an award via holistic review
Notes
Page states a $20,000 floor ('and up') with no published GPA/test grid — did NOT invent one. Renewal terms are not stated on the scholarships page (confirm with aid office).
Full tuition…Full tuition, fees, standard double room and unlimited meal plan (3 recipients); otherwise $4,000
Murphy Foundation Scholarship
Apply separately
See who qualifies+
Who qualifies
Any admitted El Dorado High School student who qualifies for the El Dorado Promise; competitive selection
Notes
Last-dollar award applied after the El Dorado Promise, state aid, and federal Pell. Three students selected competitively; this award REPLACES any previously awarded Hendrix merit-based aid. Students not selected still receive a $4,000 Murphy Foundation Scholarship in addition to existing Hendrix merit.
The Esports, UMYF Leadership, Miller Center Service, and Performing & Fine Arts scholarships each carry an explicit 'On-Campus Housing Required' condition.
For the three competitively selected El Dorado recipients, the Murphy Foundation award is last-dollar and REPLACES any previously awarded Hendrix merit-based aid; only the $4,000 consolation Murphy award is additive.
The Hendrix College Scholarship is stated as '$20,000 and up' from a holistic review — a floor, not a published amount; there is no public GPA/test grid guaranteeing a specific number.
Hendrix publishes a $56,400 direct-cost (tuition+fees+housing+food) total and a separate full 9-month on-campus COA of $61,880 that adds books, loan fees, transportation and personal expenses.
The 2026-27 tuition & fees are explicitly 'pending Board approval. Subject to change.'
See costs and school data+
Who this school may work for
A strong all-around applicant who will live on campus (the $2,000 talent/service add-ons require it) and ideally an Arkansas resident who can stack state ADHE awards; El Dorado Promise students should look at the competitive Murphy Foundation full-ride.
Published yearly cost: Approximately $61,880 for 2026-2027. Source
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Hendrix, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Hendrix, academic year 2021-22
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$15,951
$30,001–$48,000
$18,838
$48,001–$75,000
$26,414
$75,001–$110,000
$26,396
$110,001+
$27,453
All income levels (average)
$24,149
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$38,200
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$24,149
That works out to roughly a 56% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $55,013 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).
Outcomes for students who enrolled here
Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
72%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
80%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$26,688 (~$283/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$60,376
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
25%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
52%
See other scholarships and cost examples+
If your student brings another scholarship
Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
Verified policy language (2026-07-02): When an outside award changes eligibility for need-based financial aid, Hendrix will first reduce federal work study eligibility, subsidized student loan dollars, or convert subsidized into unsubsidized loans in order to comply with federal regulations. Need-based grants will only be reduced if no other compliance options are available. In no case may a student receive gift aid (grants and/or scholarships) from all sources (Hendrix, federal, state, private) in excess of the total cost of attendance at Hendrix... If the amount of total gift aid from all sources exceeds Hendrix's total cost of attendance, Hendrix gift aid (grants and/or scholarships) will be reduced accordingly.
Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From Hendrix’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
36%of admitsget merit
Average award$25,588Covers ~41% of $61,880 cost of attendance
At Hendrix, roughly 1 in 3 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $25,588 — about 41% of total cost.
As filed in Hendrix's CDS Section H2A: of 357 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 130 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $25,588. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 411 of 1,092, averaging $31,365. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.
Receive institutional merit36%First-year students, Common Data Set 2022-2023
Average merit award$25,588Across recipients, Common Data Set 2022-2023
No hard deadline is published for the Hendrix College Scholarship — all accepted students are automatically considered via holistic review; contact your Hendrix admission counselor. Arkansas state awards are applied for through the ADHE portal, and the Governor's Distinguished amount is set each February.
Is on-campus housing required for the talent awards?
Yes — the Esports, UMYF Leadership, Miller Center Service, and Performing & Fine Arts $2,000/year scholarships all require on-campus housing (Performing & Fine Arts also requires an audition).
What is the full cost of attendance for 2026-27?
$61,880 for 9 months on campus (tuition $40,572; fees $550; loan fees $60; books $900; housing $7,678; food $7,600; transportation $1,520; personal $3,000). Off-campus is $59,110 and living with parent is $52,174.
See sources and other schools+
How Hendrix compares
145 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.
Hendrix is in a recognizable cluster (145 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Hendrix is one of them. The cohort minority (84 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.
Sources used on this page
Every claim is checked against Hendrix’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
